


Beautiful

by unfortunate17



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: It's all her fault, M/M, blame noel and her artwork and her imagination, idk what i'm writing, this is shameless fluff ok, zayn is a fucking mermaid, ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 16:18:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfortunate17/pseuds/unfortunate17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: in which Liam hunts mermen for a living and Zayn is the most beautiful merman he’s ever, ever seen in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful

"I think I found one," Liam mutters, eyes pressed against his binoculars. The boat rocks with the heavy waves and the radio struggles to crackle over its sound. 

"D’ya think you can catch it?" 

And Liam despises those words - hates them with a burning passion because Mermen aren’t like fish. They’re  _human_ \- or at least humanoid - and trapping them with fishing nets, spearing them, and ripping their scales off for garment decoration seemed excessively cruel. Except there’s not much Liam can do when he works for the largest fishing agency in the world and when they give him an assignment, he’s expected to complete it, regardless of whether or not he likes it. Besides, there’s not much he can do with a skill set learned from his shrimp boat captain father and unfinished schooling. 

He shrugs absentmindedly before realizing that his boss at the other end of the radio couldn’t see the motion. So he sighs and says, “I can try.”

There’s a silence at the other end.

"You’d better."

And the connection fizzles out. 

Liam spends the next minute and a half staring at the radio before a splash in the ocean catches his attention and he nearly cracks his neck with the speed he turns his head. 

His eyes scan the empty horizon, blood thudding in his ears when he realizes that the merman he’d been tracking for the past few minutes had completely disappeared underwater. 

He swears loudly before pulling out his thermal scanners and sonar hoping to pick up another signal. For a long moment, he thinks the merman’s managed to evade him entirely before the device lets out a long beep, detecting a faint movement about twenty feet behind him. 

Liam furrows his brow at the reading. If a merman was that close to the ship, then it’d have to be - 

There’s a loud slapping sound that has him whirling around, feet far apart in a firm stance because mermen were known to attack sailors. 

Instead, what he finds is a brilliant, brilliant specimen that has all the air rushing out of his lungs and the sonar dropping from his loosened grips. Liam thinks he must look like an idiot and struggles to make sure his mouth isn’t opened in an “O.”

The merman pushes back the black fringe from his eyes with a glowing, tanned arm and Liam spots the wings inked into his chest. Liam also thinks he’s currently having a stroke. 

He clears his throat, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Liam blinks.

The merman scoot backwards hesitantly, eyes narrowing, “You going to spear me, mate?” His accent his heavy and northern and his voice is all types of velvet and silk. 

Liam shakes his head. 

"Oh well, that’s good. ‘m Zayn," he flicks his tail, all black and gold scales glittering against the sea and under the sun, "Was actually wondering if you could help me. I wasn’t going to ask you because you looked like you were following me around and that’s never a good thing but -" he flicks his tail again and this time Liam can see the large gash cutting through the left side of it, staining the scales with red, red blood, "this looks pretty serious and I sort of can’t swim anymore." He looks at Liam with huge eyes, "Just need you to wrap it up mate - can you do that?"

Liam thinks he’s swallowed his tongue because his voice comes out choked and confused, “Yes?”

Zayn seems to take that as a genuine yes because he holds out his arms and Liam realizes with horror that he actually has to lift Zayn and that involves touching him and Liam doesn’t know if he can handle that right now. 

Zayn goes to make a frustrated noise, but it comes out laced in pain, which apparently was what was needed to snap Liam out his reverie. 

He strides forward with confidence, only to stop when he’s standing above Zayn. He hesitates and drops to his knees. “Do I just - how -“

Zayn rolls his eyes, “However you want -“

"Liam."

"However you want, Liam. Just - get something on that cut will you?"

Liam nods and wraps one arm around Zayn’s back and the other under his scales, which are surprisingly soft - almost like rubber. He heaves upward, the rocking boat nearly throwing him off balance. 

Zayn lowers his eyes to his biceps and lets out a low whistle. 

Liam’s face flames and he walks as quickly as he can back to his room at the left end of the boat, pushing the door open with his foot and shutting it with his back. 

He sets Zayn gingerly down on his compact bed and goes about immediately removing his arms because Zayn’s skin is white hot under his hands and his cheekbones look like they can cut glass. Liam hopes that he can atone his ragged breathing to the exercise. 

He potters around the room as quietly as possible, gathering antiseptic and bandages. Zayn sits silently, leaning against the wall, as his blood soaks Liam’s sheets. 

In fact, when Liam returns, he doesn’t think Zayn has moved at all. 

"Here," Liam mutters, "hold this." He hands Zayn the roll of bandages and goes about cleaning out the long gash where the blood is beginning to dry. 

He works in silence for a bit and when he looks up he finds Zayn watching him. Zayn, who looks so good under the shitty fluorescent lighting. Liam blushes and looks away sharply, but not before he catches the smirk pulling up the corners of Zayn’s mouth. 

He holds out his hand for the bandage and Zayn hands it to him wordlessly. Liam wraps the scale twice over to make sure it holds and leans back on his heels when he’s finished, assessing the covered damage. 

"What do you think?" Liam looks up to find Zayn’s eyes trained on the array of spears and nets cluttered in the back of the tiny room. Zayn’s throat bobs as he swallows and when he turns back to Liam, his eyes are wide and there’s a hint of fear. 

"You’re a hunter." It’s not a question. 

Liam narrows his eyes at the sudden flare of disgust in his chest, “What did you expect from a guy who sails a boat for a fishing company? Didn’t you see the logo?”

Zayn looks haunted, “I’d never - I’ve never seen you on this boat. I assumed - “

Liam cocks an eyebrow, “It’s my first trip.”

Zayn clenches his fists in the sheets of Liam’s bed, “Was this - did you only get me up here to - “

Liam holds up his hands in surrender, “Wouldn’t have wrapped your cut if I was. I - I’ve never killed one of your kind.”

"There’s a first time for everything."

Liam hums, “There is.”

There’s a moment of silence. 

Then, Zayn laughs hollowly, “I thought you were eyeing me up.”

Liam nearly chokes on air because he gets that he’s not exactly the most subtle person here but even he’d thought he was a little better than that. 

He shrugs as the heat pools in his cheeks, “Sorry.”

Zayn’s mouth opens softly, “Wait - what.”

"I’m a little embarrassing. I - um. Never mind. I can help you back into the water in a little bit. Can you swim?" He turns away and twists his shirt in his fingers. 

"Liam," Zayn says quietly, but Liam refuses to turn back around, busying himself with opening the door, cheeks still roaring in their blush. "That’s not what I meant, Liam."

Liam peeks over his shoulders and Zayn’s looking at him with those pretty, wide eyes. HIs stomach does a crash dive and somehow winds  up in his throat. 

Zayn cocks his head to one side, hair sticking up in tufts. Liam wants to cuddle him. “You’re different than any hunter I’ve met before.”

Liam makes a soft noise, “‘m not a hunter.”

Zayn shakes his head, amused, “No, no you’re not.” He flips his tail again, the light catching the gold hidden in the blacks of the scales, “Hunters set traps to try and cut off our tails so we can’t swim.”

Liam’s eyes follow the cut, “I was supposed to do that.”

Zayn shrugs, “I figured - especially because you were holding that sonar. Except it was too late to back out then.”

"I wouldn’t have hurt you."

"I know," Zayn mutters, eyeing him critically, "You don’t look at me like you want to spear me."

Liam bounds back the bed and his hands are shaking at his sides at the way Zayn contrasts with his white sheets. 

He unsticks his tongue from the roof of his mouth, “Can I - can I touch your scales?”

Zayn’s eyebrows shoot into his hairline and Liam contemplates lighting himself on fire, but Zayn uncurls his tail, careful not to disturb the bandages, “Go ahead.”

Liam hesitates before smoothing a hand carefully down the black and gold flakes. He’s still stunned they’re as smooth and soft as they are, feeling much more like an eraser than like the glass they sparkle as. 

Zayn makes a low noise and his eyes are black when Liam catches them with his own. His hand freezes and Zayn squirms, chest heaving. 

"I - " Liam stammers, blush spreading down the back of his neck and up to the tip of his ears, "I - sorry."

Zayn shakes his head, “For  _what_?”

Liam averts his eyes, “I honestly have no clue.”

There’s a tense moment and then Zayn is letting out a bark of laughter. “Ok, ok.” He flexes his tail and it brushes against Liam’s hand - warm and alive. “Think I can swim now.”

Liam leans forward, heart pounding, “Or you can stay for a while.”

Zayn tips his head back to look Liam square in the eyes, “I could.” His mouth pulls up into that infuriating smirk, “But you’d have to carry me around everywhere.”

Liam swallows, eyes dropping to the wings flexing with every breath Zayn takes, “That’s not an issue.”

Zayn laughs breathlessly. “I’m crazy,” he declares loudly, “I’m fucking crazy. You’ve got all _that_ ,” he gestures to Liam’s fishing equipment, “But you’ve also got all  _this_ ,” his eyes are filthy as he rests his hand on Liam’s stomach. 

Liam flushes even darker and another, slightly embarrassing sound is ripped from the back of Zayn’s throat.

"You should really kiss me," Zayn gets out. 

Liam nods so hard he thinks his brain’s been banged against the side of his head. “You’re really beautiful,” he says and it’s not planned and sounds really dumb and Liam wants to hide again. 

"You’re such a  _dumbass_ ,” Zayn laughs, but there’s pink on his cheeks so Liam thinks the might get out of this with his dignity intact anyway. “But now you should  _really_ kiss me.”

And so the boat’s rocking with the heavy waves, the radio is crackling in an effort to be heard over the sound of the ocean, and Liam is kissing Zayn. 

**Author's Note:**

> HAHAHA what? I haven't lost my mind or anything. :D


End file.
